Sapphire cards are very solid, I've started buying them since 4870x2 and no one of them has given me issues.

If your sample overclocks to atleast 1200 Mhz it is very worth to get a 7970, otherwise a GTX 680 will be better
Anyway performance is so close that you can decide on your favourite brand, be it AMD or NVIDIA

Maybe take a look at benchmarks and see which brand performs better on the games you are interested?

Sapphire cards are very solid, I've started buying them since 4870x2 and no one of them has given me issues.

If your sample overclocks to atleast 1200 Mhz it is very worth to get a 7970, otherwise a GTX 680 will be better
Anyway performance is so close that you can decide on your favorite brand, be it AMD or NVIDIA

Maybe take a look at benchmarks and see which brand performs better on the games you are interested?

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I like Sapphire cards. I had a Sapphire 5990 and it was a great card... I'm using a Gigabyte 6990 atm but face it, it's getting behind the times

My first Sapphire 7970 died on me and Sapphire was awesome with the RMA. Took 12 days from the day I sent it in to get a new card back, which was pretty spot on. Its good to know a company will take care of you like that